Pacific Exploration and Imperialism

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering Polynesian navigation, migration timelines, cultural traditions, and British and European colonization of Australia and New Zealand.

Polynesia

A major grouping of Pacific islands forming a vast geographic triangle that includes islands such as Tahiti, Hawaiʻi, and New Zealand.

Micronesia

A region of small island groups in the western Pacific Ocean located north of Melanesia.

Melanesia

A group of Pacific islands located south of Micronesia and west of Polynesia, encompassing islands such as New Guinea and Fiji.

Pacific Islander Expansion

The maritime migration of islanders driven by the search for more land and resources, the need to relieve overcrowding on home islands, and the desire to expand their culture.

Wayfinding

A sophisticated traditional method of ocean navigation utilizing the positions of stars, tides, and ocean currents to cross large oceanic expanses with high accuracy.

Catamaran

A multi-hulled boat design constructed by Polynesians to build large ocean-going canoes that could hold up to 20 passengers and several tons of supplies.

Stick chart

A traditional navigational device used by Pacific islanders that served as a map of swells, currents, and stars to traverse open waters.

Tattoo

A culturally and symbolically significant body marking tradition whose name originated from Polynesian languages.

James Cook

A British navigator who claimed eastern Australia in 1770 and explored various Pacific territories under the guise of scientific discovery, which introduced conflict and colonization.

Penal colony

A settlement established to deport, house, and put unwanted convicts to work in isolation from domestic society, such as the initial British colonies established in Australia beginning in 1788.

Australian Frontier Wars (1788–1934)

A prolonged period of violent conflict between indigenous Aboriginal Australians and British colonial settlers, characterized by the complete absence of an initial treaty.

Tamati Waka Nene

A Māori chief who converted to the Wesleyan (Methodist) faith and was the first chief to sign the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand.

Treaty of Waitangi

An 1840 pact establishing an equal partnership between the British and Māori, entitling the Māori to equal rights, land and resource enjoyment, and restitution if breached.

Māori Portraiture Patronage

A 19th-century practice where European art patrons commissioned portraits of Māori wearing traditional garments, while Māori patrons preferred being painted in formal European attire.

French Assimilation in Tahiti

The colonial policy of the French government that attempted to impart and impose a French national identity upon the native Tahitian population.